Companies Using DITA

Here is my informal list of firms that are using DITA XML in some form in their documentation efforts. The table is dynamic, so you can search for a particular company by name, industry segment, or track down the location of DITA-using firms close to where you live. In this update I have dropped the vast majority of consulting firms that also work in this field, as many of them are not necessarily producing documentation based in DITA; information on these firms will soon appear in a separate listing. This list will be updated over time. (Last updated December 5, 2017)

If you are with a firm that produces docs using DITA, or see a correction that needs to be made, please let me know so that I can add your firm to the listing.

Caveats: please keep in mind that this is an informal list, based on my own research. From my experience there are often several documentation departments in a firm, especially in larger companies, so it is entirely possible that one division within a company is using DITA XML extensively while another has not even heard about it. Also, over time things do change, and a firm listed here that started using DITA may have moved on to something else.

In the case of firms that were referenced in the original listing of firms on the OASIS site, I’ve verified that each of the companies listed still exist, since I found several which no longer exist (e.g. Qimonda) or have been merged into other companies (e.g. mental images, Moldflow and Lombardi Software among others).

Thanks Pradeep! I am sure you are right, but I don’t want to leap to any unfounded conclusions either. They *could* be doing their documentation using some other XML schema, like DocBook for example. So will hold off on listing them until there is further evidence.

At my current company, DITA Exchange, we use our own product to drive our web-site (www.ditaexchange.com). We provide DITA solutions for “classic” tech-docs as well as the regulated Life Sciences industry.
My former company, LORENZ Life Sciences, uses DITA for software product manuals.

Keith, this list is very useful. Thanks! One way it could be even more useful would be to include pointers to the DITA-generated content that the companies offer on the web, if any. For example, we recently started publishing our user help content at help.salesforce.com. (All the links under “Documentation” go to DITA-generated content.) I only know of a few other public (i.e. no login) help sites like this, but I’d love to find more of them.

I would like to do that, but the information I am able to find points more to the fact that a doc team within a company is using DITA, rather than the specific material that they put out. I do have a listing of confirmed DITA-produced output which can be found here, but it is small compared to the overall number of firms using DITA.

Thanks also for mentioning your firm’s DITA-produced content — I will add that to the list on the aforementioned page. Cheers!

You have a good point Noz! Sadly, in most cases this type of information is not readily available, but in a future update I may consider adding what extra information is available that I can find.

While this list shows which companies are using DITA, it does not give an example of the full breadth of how and where it is being used. So while I list the HQ of an organization as the “default” location, in many cases DITA may not be used there at all, but instead at one or often more locations at branch offices the company where either tech docs or communications are done. Over time I find that this information changes, as companies shift the internal ownership of tech docs within or between divisions (for larger firms in particular) so any information I post about that is likely to be out-of-date before long.

It does make sense to me to post what other information I can, like case studies and links to sample DITA-produced docs. That is likely to be a small fraction of the full list, as not everyone is so forthcoming about their tech doc processes.

I have an older list from March of 2014 that has a column for which industry the company is from. I don’t see that on the current list on this page. Perhaps I pulled it from somewhere else. Was there ever such a column on this site?

Yes, I previously had “company sector” section for the listing on this page, and I removed it primarily because I couldn’t easily fit that information along with everything within the boundaries/margins. It also appears that anyone who is looking for a job using this listing are more interested in finding out where a company is located rather than the sector they are in.

I still keep and maintain that information however, and if I can ever figure out how to expand the margins in the existing WordPress theme I will definitely add it back.

If you are looking for information on specific firms operating in a specific sector, send me an email and I can send you that information. Cheers!

I am planning to use the information to show adoption of DITA in industries related to our own: Semiconductors, Wireless, Networking, telecommunications, electrical/electronic manufacturing, information technology and services. For this use, location is irrelevant.

Perhaps you can have a link to a page where the industry is shown instead of location. Most large companies have locations all over the world, and someone looking for a list of DITA adoption doesn’t care about location.

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Hi, QAD (http://www.qad.com), a Computer Software (ERP) company in Santa Barbara, California, is now using DITA for content about its next-generation software. Could you please add QAD to the list? Thank you.

Tweddle Group, as a supplier to several automobile manufacturers worldwide, writes, translates, and delivers vehicle owner information (i.e. glovebox manuals, onboard information systems, mobile apps), and service information (manufacturer dealer service websites and service bay diagnostic applications). We are using DITA XML on multiple CMS instances to create and deliver this content.

Hello there: I actually have Tweddle Group in my listing of DITA Consulting Firms at: http://www.ditawriter.com/dita-consultants-listing/, as I understand your firm creates content for other companies (which is one of the categories). Tweddle was formerly listed on this page, and then I moved it–along with several other, similar firms–to the other page. If you think the listing on the consultants page needs updating, please let me know!

Hi, Keith,
While I somewhat understand the logic of listing us there instead of here, I personally feel that we align here much better. The supply chain of large manufacturing industry verticals is easily misunderstood. Does Tweddle “consult”? Yes and no. As an automotive supplier, we contract with OEMs. We become their “pubs groups”; we don’t work with their people; we ARE their people. I have a hard time associating the term “consultant” with what we are, a 700-employee, $200M company that delivers 12 million owners information glovebox kits per year, and, using the single-sourcing that DITA encourages, delivering that same content to various digital platforms including the head unit in the dashboard.

Now, I don’t want you to create a third category, “supply chain” firms. I just wanted to say that I feel much more affinity with the firms on this page than the firms on the other page. When I attend DITA-oriented conferences, the “consultants” are behind tables in the exhibitor hall. That’s not me; I’m running with the hands-on production users attending sessions and evaluating vendors, products, and consultants for possible software purchases and professional services engagements.

You make some good points. When I originally came up with the separate listing, consultants were (and still do) make up the bulk of the companies represented, and I didn’t want to start a third list just for the companies that offered outsourced DITA content creation as well (which at the time would have been small, and also comprised of firms that also offered consulting services). Am thinking now that either I should list these firms separately, or perhaps simply rename that page “DITA Services” instead. Your thoughts?